Yesterday I went to a "This is your Life John Master" aka Col. (rtd) Master ONZM, MC(from Borneo) at the Papanui RSA.

I think he contributes to kiwiblog, but that aside. He…

I used to believe white power et al were only a danger to themselves. Little fifedoms exacting revenge kneecappings etc on their own 'disloyal' members.

It doesn't get much more serious than murder, but what the motivation might have been is chilling.

I feel Michael Laws should be somewhere at the head of the column – I can see him heroically splashing onto the beaches of the Zimbabwe coast under withering fire.

His mascara running down his ashen face.

karena puhi
A few years ago, you had a point

And he still…

You beaut. It's one of my all time faves as well.

I shamelessly cribbed that line about the Magna Carta in a university debate once: it was a demonstration debate on how not to do debate.

Some of the best lines were on the radio shows though 'I thought…

23 seconds of genius:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNZosqiJISs

Yours looks nothing like Deputy Dawg.

Andrew: Will Smith perhaps looks a bit like Herbie Hancock....

"I tell you what, we are martial arts people, we know how to defend ourselves – a chair, a dustbin -anything can be a weapon"

Or even a banana.

Quite to the contrary . If I had a picture in my head of a monster dictator here, he would be a white, losing his hair, authoritarian, silver-tongued devil, who would preface every nasty move with those immortal words "for your own good."

Like Winston Peters? :) OK, snark aside…

Hmmm, maybe I spoke too soon: [[http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/25/zimbabwe.main/?iref=hpmostpop|

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai briefly left…

Of course, South Africa could use its economic power to draw Mr. Mugabe’s rule to an end in weeks rather than months. Yet Mr. Mbeki…

A few years ago, you had a point, but it has gone beyond that now. Take the word of the indeginous Zimbabwe refugees.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=116&objectid=10518237

Mugabe takes on the Chinese Communism where "Freedom Fighters" is an inhereted status, like "Peasant" & "Landlord" in Communist China. This gives a whipping boy…

but would you care to mount a similar defence of Mbeki?

No. But I don't see his actions or inactions as much different from leaders in most of the rest of the world. Your attack was less on one person and more on a whole sub-continent. Re-colonization is just round…

Sometimes I'm tempted to make a macro to produce my 'enable sense of humour' instructions at the press of a key...

I stopped reading that one. I got through a whole couple of paragraphs, but if someone is going to forget about the shift key on their keyboard, they need…

I stand corrected on Mandela, but would you care to mount a similar defence of Mbeki? Seriously, I'd love to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but I'm not seeing it.

He said leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Pompeii, and Adolf Hitler had also been brought down by the ordinary masses.

I was with him until he said this, which is mostly utter bollocks.

He said leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Pompeii, and Adolf Hitler had also been brought down by the ordinary masses.

Eh? Masses?

Alexander the Great: Alexander died after twelve years of constant military campaigning, possibly as a result of malaria, poisoning, typhoid fever, viral encephalitis or the consequences…

might just have made a difference if Mandela and Mbeki had opened their mouths

IOW, you specifically mentioned Mandela as being culpable. Further back you make the claim that Zimbabwe's neighbours were effectively doing nothing.

Monday, May 8, 2000 – Web posted at 8:30:01 GMT

Mandela expresses…

At the risk of Godwin-ing myself, Germany was awfully "white and first world" between February 27, 1933 (the Reichstag Fire), and July 14 that same year (when it officially, and perfectly legally became a one-party state).

I'm not sure if 1933 Europe and 2008 World is a particularly valid comparison…

I think we're all a bit too white and first world for the rest of the world to let that happen.

At the risk of Godwin-ing myself, Germany was awfully "white and first world" between February 27, 1933 (the Reichstag Fire), and July 14 that same year (when it officially,…

If that unthinkable scenario happened here, how would ordinary kiwis feel if our old allies sat round knitting while we got tortured and bumped off?

I think we're all a bit too white and first world for the rest of the world to let that happen.

Plus we have oil…

If that unthinkable scenario happened here, how would ordinary kiwis feel if our old allies sat round knitting while we got tortured and bumped off?

Well, I'm reasonably sure that Kevin Rudd would rather not have hundreds of thousands of Kiwi refugees (legal and otherwise) landing at Kingsford Smith and…

How much of a monster does Mugabe have to be (and his army that might or might not be under his control) before all the fretting around the sidelines solidifies…

Sorry Craig, but you are oversimplifying the attitudes of an entire continent *and* the position of neighbouring states, who, other than SA, are in no state whatsoever to mount and invasion.

Don: I'm rather lukewarm on the idea of invading Zimbabwe, but are you seriously arguing that 'quiet diplomacy' Mbeki-style…

I kid you not... i found one of his short stories in a slim volume of student work from that year.

Don't recall anything about a thesis, but I do recall Laws organised a pro-tour group – called FART – on campus.

Laws' Otago thesis was on the sedition trial of Bishop Liston. He did a masters at Vic, not sure what that was on.

I thought the group was called…

Laws has some pretty twisted views about Africa.

I understand he had some things to say while at Otago University around the time of the Springbok Tour that didn't look good at the time, let alone quarter of a century later.

(after the fashion of Uganda, where Amin was finally dealt to by the remarkably efficient Tanzanian army

That is a good example. If it could be repeated...

the party line in Afirca seems to have been 'he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a…

any comment on President Mbeki's role in all this?

Nothing tasteful. And, folks, I don't think we can blame Chimpy McHitler for this. Sadly, the party line in Afirca seems to have been 'he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch", just to…

Arguably the US, by intervening in Iraq in such a f...d up fashion, has poisoned the well for where a reasonable response could be justified.

the whole iraq saga has certainly put me off the idea of invading and occupying countries in order to secure cheap oil. george w bush…

(after the fashion of Uganda, where Amin was finally dealt to by the remarkably efficient Tanzanian army, after making the mistake of moving up from…

any comment on President Mbeki's role in all this?

Maybe he's looking at Iraq and thinking, "not in a 1000 years", to paraphrase a former ruler of what is now Zimbabwe.

"I tell you what, we are martial arts people, we know how to defend ourselves – a chair, a dustbin -anything can be a weapon"

Going by personal experience, the chosen weapon of Asians practicing martial arts (at least in Christchurch) actually tends to be the sabre. Unless they're cruelly…

This was the exact same Michael Laws who, during the 1981 Tour, wrote a university thesis justifying the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Law's left a bit of a legacy during his time at Otago. I've seen copies of publications he was allegedly responsible for. They were sexist, racist and…

As for him leading the charge in Zimbabwe etc... the image which popped into my head was of Laws as Flashman

I agree with the two who mention Michael Laws sploshing onto the beach.... And then the Mozambique police politely ask him to put his weaponry down, explain that Zimbabwe, being landlocked, doesn't actually have a coastline, and offer to arrange for his transport home.

damn, how do I…

Quote, "I tell you what, we are martial arts people, we know how to defend ourselves – a chair, a dustbin -anything can be a weapon"

hilarious, and tragic.

But can you blame them? The Asian community are seen as easy pickings in South Auckland so I can understand why someone…

By naming themselves that are they opposing the 'other' ethnic group(s) in Sth Auckland?

"Low did not want his face shown on television for fear of recrimination"

May I suggest a pointed white hood Mr Low?
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1866312

Why is it so very satisfying to imagine Michael Laws as David Schwimmer in this particular Band of Brothers?

A perfect characterisation. Someone who, in equal measures, is self-important and devoid of self-awareness!

And though it might breach multiple UN conventions, we cap it off with the Kiwibank Mini roaring through the street of Harrare with Michael Laws' greatest shits cranked up to 11. If that doesn't make Mugabe drop dead nothing will.

This is where I lol'd.

I'm shocked you missed the opportunity to piggy-back an export drive for our 'creative industries' — fascinatingly fascist uniforms by Karen Walter, ordinance courtesy of Weta Workshop, fabbo camo netting handcrafted by Trelise Cooper. Then we can get Kate Sylvester to bang up a medal.

And though it might…

I volunteer the guy who started that Asian crime-fighting group. He seems pretty eager to shoot someone.

...or at least hit someone with a dustbin.

Quote, "I tell you what, we are martial arts people, we know how to defend ourselves – a chair, a dustbin -anything can be a…

I wasn't sure what Michael Laws was saying. It seemed to be that we had gangs who were enemies of the state, like in Zimbabwe.
And that he wanted to…

there was a fellow strutting around in camo gear, he wasn't…

General Question: If Mugabe goes, do we have any idea that the military and all his henchmen simply won't continue the terror? If he keeled over tomorrow from a heart attack, there is no guarantee that the regime will change is there?

It's not…

Can we also send along a reality TV crew to Zimbabwe a

Maybe something by Julie Christie, so he's driven to suicide?

I feel Michael Laws should be somewhere at the head of the column

It could be called Laws' Burkes

Rickard of…

as you were emptying your popcorn bucket and watching the Dirty Dozen getting shot, stabbed, and blown up by Germans, you were contemplating the meaning of individualism, collectivism, cultural relativism, racism, patriotism and duty.

Wikipedia is psychic! Except I do my contemplating in front of The Sarah Connor Chronicles these…

The only thing that stops this idea as a goer is "whipping them into…